May 28, 2025 • 50 mins
Hosts Joe Maddon and Tom Verducci notice the pace of the season picking up! Shohei Ohtani has been on a tear and why has Juan Soto gotten slower? Joe explains what he's seeing with Soto and why he doesn't agree with the approach being taken. Tom wants Jose Ramirez on the Hall of Fame radar immediately! Players are talking about a change in the strike zone. Why are we seeing it happen? Plus, what are the biggest surprises we're seeing this season?
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
The Book of Joe podcast is a production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Hey Daron, welcome back.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
It is the Book of Joe Podcast with me, Tom
Berducci and Joe Madden. Hey Joe, we are now one
third of the way through the Major League Baseball season.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
How about that two months?
Speaker 3 (00:29):
In the books, what happens is you go to spring
training and it's slow time, and it just seems like
the days are twenty eight hours. Gets so the point
becomes very boring in a sense. Spring training's too long.
We need to shorten this thing up. And I always
argued against that. I always thought it was just the
right amount of time. So you get through camp, teason begins,
play game day off, play game day off, rain out, whatever,
(00:51):
slow time. But then eventually it gathers momentum, and once
it turns over, like you know, like the proverbial engine run,
and then it turns over, then it goes and right
now they're gonna start feeling that in fact, he got
to this point a third of the way in.
Speaker 4 (01:07):
This is where it starts.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
Get a little bit quickly before you not it's the
All Star break, but it's always felt that way. Slow time,
and then when it turns into fast time.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
Heads up, Yeah, thanks for bringing up memories of my
nineteen seventy three Plymouth satellite.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
There you go made that engine.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
God that that was a fantastic few three eighteen or
three eighty three.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Do you remember three eighteen? It was an old police
car could run great. Hey, a lot of things. I
want to get to you.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
I want to get to your take and mine on
the biggest surprises of the first third of the season.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
We'll get to that.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
We'll get to a future Hall of Famer you might
not have noticed in plain sight. But we need to
end the strike zone. I got to talk to you,
Joe about the strike zone here. But Joe, I want
to talk to you about a couple of our favorite subjects,
the two highest paid players in the game, sho.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
He Otani and Juan Soto.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
And for very different reasons, Shoe just continues to amaze us, right,
I mean, as much as we see him and you know,
understand what he's doing historically on a day basis that
he does something that just makes you go wow. So
he goes to Cleveland. He's hit home runs in two
straight games on the first basically first pitch, first swing
(02:13):
of the game, they strike him out. Tanner Bibe strikes
him out the first time. Second time up, Joe, they're
already down. The Guardians are down two nothing. There's a
runner on third base and two outs with Tanner Bibe,
he's probably the best Guardians pitcher.
Speaker 4 (02:26):
On that.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
They walked him intentionally early in the game. We're talking
second ending, already trailing too, with Mooki.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
Betts behind him.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
Now Mookie walked, and then they Bibe actually struck out
Freddy Freeman, and then next time up it shows you
why they walked.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
Show Hey.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
He hits a home run to the left field, opposite field,
thirty nine degree pop fly, strong enough to hit it
out of the park. Joe, give me your take on
that as a Steven vote or any opposing manager facing
Show Hey, when you know you've got Mooki and Freeman
behind him, and you still say we want.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
No part of this guy early in the game trailing two.
Speaker 4 (03:02):
To me, that would be based on trends.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
I mean, of course, he is who he is normally
all the time, but if there's any kind of there's
still be times in Show doesn't go exactly as hot
as he is right now. And then when we get
to that point, I think they would choose to pitch
to him. But when he's doing what he's doing, like
right now, and listen, Best is having a good year
of Freeman his freame, and I understand all that, but
sometimes you just you just pick your poison. It could
(03:24):
be just based on right handedness, you know, and with
Betts a couple of years ago he was actually better
against righties than lefties, and so he's still got that
within his abilities.
Speaker 4 (03:35):
But yeah, you make up your mind before the game begins.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
I would listen if it gets to this point shows
us looking invincible right now. I know it's weird to
walk him for these particular hitters, but you do. And
then sometimes it just it does, in some weird way,
apply a little bit more pressure to the guys coming up.
They may handle their battle little bit more differently, and
you know, just start thinking about it as opposed to
(03:58):
is just going up there and hitting.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
And oh, by the way, Joe, he's doing this while
he's preparing to pitch again. I mean he just threw
live BP the other day. I mean he's rehabbing from
a second elbow surgery, getting ready to get on the mound.
Probably a month or two, and he's just dominating in
the batter's box.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
Watch his face though, I mean, the guy's always in charge, right,
He's always he never looks like he's in trouble, like
it's not concerned. He's got his relaxed method about himself
where he's just he's very confident. And that's part of
why he's as good as he is. He is not
overwhelmed by the days. Not overwhelmed by the game is stature, pressure, whatever.
(04:38):
He's fueled by all this stuff. So he's even in
his worst moments, he still looks good. He looks good
when he's going bad. So these are all the different
things you have to consider with him. And I saw
the home run. I've talked about this with you recently
about the fly balls going out. That ball went straight
up in the air and it was OPO. I'm a
little concerned about the baseball still, but there's been a
(05:00):
lot of flyballs and fly balls APO that are going
out of ballparks. I'm a little my conspiracy anten are up.
But listen, he's strong, he's good.
Speaker 4 (05:09):
I get all that.
Speaker 3 (05:10):
But that was a flyball the left that kept going.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
Yeah, you're right, thirty nine degree launch angle. It tied
his career high for an opposite field home run. The
other one was back in twenty twenty in Seattle. He
did hit at one hundred and four miles per hour,
so he got a good piece of it. But that's
his fourth opposite field home run this year. They've all
been in the exact same location, middle away, and you
(05:32):
know how dangerous show Hey gets when he covers the
whole field like that.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
A couple of things on show Ay.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
First of all, his slugging percentage the last three seasons
six fifty four, six forty six, six forty eight. I mean,
it's just amazing he's on pace that hit fifty nine
home runs this year. Here's the other thing, Joe that
really stands out to me. You know what a great
base runner he is, especially in this lineup we mentioned
with Freeman and Bets behind him, two of the best
(06:00):
runners in scoring position hitters of this generation. And that's
not an exaggeration. He's scored fifty seven runs in the
team's first fifty four games. The last player to score
one hundred and sixty two runs one per team game
was lou Gerrigg in nineteen thirty six. Now, since then,
(06:23):
there's only been three players who scored even one hundred
and fifty runs, Jeff Bagwell in two thousand, Ted Williams
in nineteen forty nine, and Joe DiMaggio in nineteen thirty seven.
I would now put it past him and this Dodger
team behind him. With him and Joe, he's going to
score one hundred and fifty runs. He's just on base
all the time, and he's a great base runner, and
(06:44):
oh yeah, he knocks himself in fifty to sixty times.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
I was listening to all that. I don't think any
of them were real blazers. I mean, he's probably the
fastest out of that whole group.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
That's right.
Speaker 3 (06:53):
That just speaks of the entirety of the lineups. Gerig
did I guess he must have hit? Did he hit
in front of Ruth? I don't even know hit in
front of behind Ruth? I mean hit behind him Ruth.
That just speaks of the whole thing. Yeah, it's just
it's good base like this. You don't have to be
fast to be a good base runner. I've always that
was one of the first things I told the guys
in my base running classes. Actually did the gig yesterday
(07:15):
with Brian Kenney were talking about the Orioles and losing
Hyder and all this stuff, and one of the things
that had been down with them they considered was their
base running and the just not a very good base
running team this year. And to me, that's one thing
that if you're a good athlete, and even you you
don't have to be a fast runner, but you just
have to have like an attitude about yourself. You know
how to get to the next base. You know the
(07:37):
instinctively what to look for. You know what people's arms
will look like. You know what when a guy moves
to his riders left in the outfit, what that means
to your ability to advance the base. So it's just
it's it's basically like your baseball Instinctively, when I scouted
the guy a player showed me on the basis something instinctive,
I would automatically kick in the gear that I think
this guy's got pretty good instincts for the game. I
(07:58):
think it's demonstrated there good base runners. When you're a
good base runner, you indicate I understand the game pretty well.
So all these guys you're talking about, obviously great players,
not the fastest in the world, but instinctively good baseball players,
and they paid attention on the basis, which I think
is spectacular.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
Yeah, I agree with you, Joe.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
It's a kind of a I think it underrepresented part
of what makes a great baseball player. And whether you
call it instincts or awareness, whatever it is, I think
it's not necessarily tied directly to speed, Which brings me
to Juan Soto. And listen, we just talked about it's
a third of the way through the season. I'm not
worried about Juan Soto, but I just want to talk
(08:39):
Joe about what we've seen so far. Assuming he's going
to come out of this funk that he's been in,
and it is a funk, I'm going to throw some
numbers at you here, Joe. Let me start with base riding.
By the way, since you brought it up. His sprint speed,
which is never great. He's not a burner, right. Last
year was twenty six point eight feet per second. He's
(09:00):
down the twenty five point eight feet per second. He
was in the thirty six percentile last year, he's down
the seventeenth percentile. Why in the world would someone at
twenty six years old have his sprint speed go down
like that.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
I don't understand that.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
If you look at just players who are twenty six
and younger, there's only four players who are slower than
Wan Soto, Alejandro Kirk, Cabert Ruiz, two catchers, Nolan Shanuel,
and eastac Paradis. I was watching the other day the
Dodgers pulled off the old five man infield trick right,
and they actually got a ground ball the third base.
(09:37):
The second baseman Lee had to hustle behind back to
the base, get the base ball and throw the first
and he turned it easily. Want Soto was the runner
on first base and watching the high home angle. Now again,
Joe Infield is in the first basement, is in front
of him.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
He has a small lead at first base.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
He's not even as far as Freddie Freeman the first basement.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
And then there was zero secondary Lee.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
So what should have been a difficult double play to turn,
Soto actually has to do an emergency slide about, you know,
way in front of the bag just to get out
of the way of the throw. He's not close to
being on top of the second basement there. That really
caught my attention A question.
Speaker 4 (10:21):
On that one. Was it a left handed hitter? Do
you remember it was the right handed hitter.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
I was a right handed hitter pulled to the left side.
Speaker 3 (10:28):
Here's the thing when you as a first base coach,
when you get in a situation like that on a
secondary lead where you don't want to get doubled up.
And I got this from Bobby Kinnopp, you never asked
the runner to exceed the defender at first base because
of a line drive. If you can't get back to
the bagger's an automatic double play. So that was actually
the benchmark for your secondary lead in that situation where
(10:50):
getting doubled up online drive could hurt you a lot.
Speaker 4 (10:52):
So I don't know if that was in his mind.
Speaker 1 (10:54):
Well he wasn't as far as the first baseman, and
remember the first basement.
Speaker 2 (10:58):
Is in front of him.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
That grass right. For me, I realized, you got to
get back on the line.
Speaker 3 (11:04):
Well, your secondary lead is you get to the point
where he is wherever that first basement is. You get
to that point, you don't want to exceed that point.
If the balls hit to the first baseman's left on
the line drive, he easily gets the ball tag's first
base double play, So that's just the mechanics of it.
But back to the original point, I think he's not
interested right now.
Speaker 4 (11:23):
He's uninterested because he's not hitting.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
And listen, I'm you know, body language is whatever, but
you can just see it in his face. And everybody's
making note of the fact that he's not doing that
little Soto shuffle, all these little the nuanced kind of
things that he normally does to intimidate the other side.
His confidence has taken a hit.
Speaker 4 (11:42):
He's reading a.
Speaker 3 (11:43):
Lot of the stuff that's been written. He's worried about
too many different things. In spite of I'm sure Mendoza,
who I think has a really good bedside manner, probably
trying to say the right thing to him until he
starts hitting. It's going to stay this way. Once he
starts hitting, the smile is going to come back, the
interest level is going to come back up, the shuffle's
going to happen, and then the better second really is
(12:03):
going to occur. I'm just telling you that's that's exactly
what I'm seeing right now, and I think that's just
the way it is. That's kind of like his personality,
I believe, and I'm not here to condemn.
Speaker 4 (12:13):
Him or judgement. I'm just telling you what I think.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
So I'll defend the lead only from the perspective of
the kind of secondary you take in the line drive situation,
even with the first spaceman in front of you.
Speaker 4 (12:23):
But overall the speed and if.
Speaker 3 (12:25):
He's being compared to some of those guys in his
running speed to first space, obviously there's a lack of interest,
confidence and it's just weighing on him heavily, and he's
just got to get by it.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
I agree with you on getting him right. You know,
once that swing is in place, he's going to take off.
And when I was talking to Scott Boris's agent, you know,
Scott basically said, listen, you know, it's a difficult headspace
he's in right now because he is defined by the contract.
And as Scott likes to say, it's difficult wearing that
crown when that is now your identity, and he's having
(12:57):
a hard time dealing with that, not necessarily New York,
it's just being defined by seven hundred and sixty five
million dollars. So Scott's advice to him was, until you
get to that comfort level, swing less, because the swing
isn't there and you look at the numbers.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
Oh my goodness, he's swinging less. He's looking at a
ton of strikes.
Speaker 1 (13:17):
The major league average hitter swings at a pitch in
the strike zone sixty seven percent of the time. In
SODA's career, he swings sixty percent. So he's always been patient.
We know that this year that's down to fifty five percent.
He's just taking a ton of strikes in the zone.
Polled ground ball rate is higher than it's ever been
(13:37):
in his career. He's hitting one thirty on sinkers and sliders.
Because to me, Joe, he's not nearly as much into
his legs as he used to be. He's much more upright.
He's not handling that pitch down. All these numbers career
low first pitch swing percentage, career low swing rate overall.
Last year, he hit twenty four home runs that were
(13:58):
called no doubters. That means they were out of every park,
all thirty parks. This year he has hit one. Yeah,
I mean, it's almost like it's a different player, but
just as passive as he is in the box. It's just,
you know, as you said, I'm not sure what Mendoza
can do other than obviously support him. He did move
(14:20):
him down to the three spot, but he's got to
swing his way out of this at some point.
Speaker 4 (14:24):
I like Scott Borrows. I think he's brilliant. I like
him a.
Speaker 3 (14:26):
Lot, but I disagree with this completely swinging less. Then
you get in the maybe mode. He's to discuss this
with Darren nurstadt Erst. He would get in the maybe mode.
Should I swinger? Should I not swing? Whenever you're in
the maybe mode, nothing good really does occur. This guy
has an exceptional eye at the plate. He's one of
the best, so rely on that. He's got to get
more into Every pitch is his pitch to hit until
(14:49):
his brain wants to shut it down.
Speaker 4 (14:50):
That's the approach I would take with him.
Speaker 3 (14:52):
A B. The pull side of the field does not exist.
Right center is the right field fouling to you from
for the next week or two weeks, whatever it might take.
Speaker 4 (15:00):
That's the right field line.
Speaker 3 (15:02):
I want everything hit from that right center field foul
line to the left field line. I want as many
singles as you can hit up the middle of the
ballpark as often as you can. That's where I would
go with it. He is such a wonderful, discerning eye
to say take more. That's confusing him right now. I
have to believe that he's at least lost his is.
He's always had a wonderful aggressiveness on his pitch, so
(15:24):
I think that's counterintuitive to what he does.
Speaker 4 (15:27):
He doesn't go up there to look to take.
Speaker 3 (15:29):
He goes up there to look to swing until the
point is wonderful instincts to him not to so right
field foul line is right center field no longer the
right field line. Play with the middle of the field. Mentally,
take as many singles as you can for right now,
and don't think swing lesser, swing more. Every pitch is
my pitch to hit until my mind, body, instinct, eyeballs
(15:52):
tell me no.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
It sounds like a good approach Joe, again, knowing he
is a very patient hitter, but I think he's taking
it so far. He's seeing more pitches in the strike
zone than ever before in his career, and he is
swinging at them less than ever and doing less with
them when he does swing, and that needs to change.
Speaker 3 (16:12):
I would wonder if Scotty like analytically had the boys
check something out regarding slumps or whatever.
Speaker 4 (16:18):
He's probably thinking that you're.
Speaker 3 (16:19):
Swinging too much, putting too many balls in play that
you normally don't that kind of a thought process. But
I mean the guy as he has all the bells
in whistle Soto does, so we have to how do
we bring out all that that wonderful standard equipment that
he has and to attempt to do something you don't
normally do, like be passive.
Speaker 4 (16:39):
To me, be the wrong way to go about it.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
Well, I mentioned Joe, a future Hall of Famer within
our midst to a lot of people may not think
that way. I will reveal that player, and I'll do
that right after we take a quick break on the
Book of Joe.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
Welcome back to the Book of Joe. Hey, Joe.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
I'm doing a game the other day in Detroit. It's
Guardians against the Tigers. And if you didn't know Jose
Ramirez is a player, this was a great example, two
strike breaking ball, bottom of his own. He just had
a great two strike approach, just flipped it in the
center field for a base hit. Guardians are down by
one run. Base hit followed and he goes first to
(17:27):
third easily. Now he's on third base. The Tigers bring
the infield in it's a ground ball to the first
baseman who's up on the grass, Spencer Torkelsen. He fields
it perfectly, throws a strike to the plate. Jose Ramirez
is safe. I mean he had the perfect textbook secondary lead, read, jump, speed, slide, everything,
(17:49):
just textbook baseball. The more you watch this guy play,
Jose Ramirez, the more you're blown away. As Stephen Bote said,
there's only a handful of guys who could have scored
on that ball. I mean nothing Spencer Torkelsen could have done,
because he did everything perfectly to get him out at
home plate. So Jose Ramirez just played in his fifteen
(18:12):
hundredth major league game. He is one of only seven
players with two hundred and fifty homers and two hundred
and fifty stolen bases through fifteen hundred games. But he
is one of only two players to do that with
so few strikeouts, striking out less than a thousand times.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
The other one is Barry Bonds. That's it.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
I mean, this guy's got power, he's got speed, and
he puts the ball in play, and he's just a
winning baseball player. I think he's one of the best
base runners in the game. And it has been for years,
so he's come close to winning MVPs. You know, it's
Cleveland doesn't get the attention. But when you look at
the package of skills of Jose Ramirez, he is on
the Hall of Fame highway.
Speaker 3 (18:51):
Brother, I've been a fan ever since I first saw
this guy. The thing is, you walk into the ballpark
and you ask who's the best player on the team,
and just look at the guys physically.
Speaker 4 (19:01):
And you would probably not go there.
Speaker 3 (19:03):
It's almost it's like a not quite but like a
Kirby Pucket kind of a thing.
Speaker 4 (19:06):
You know.
Speaker 3 (19:06):
When I first saw I saw Kirby Pucket, I was
scouting the Junior College World Series in Grand Junction, Colorado.
I think it was nineteen eighty one, nineteen eighty two.
He was playing for Triton Junior College and I'm watching
this little like bowling ball kind of an outfielder. My god,
I mean, he went to the line, did the spin
turn through a bullet to second base. He ran extremely well,
(19:28):
had this line drive pop all the like the body
belied the abilities. And it's the same thing with Ramires.
You really got to pay attention to this. I mean,
whoever scout at this obviously because he wasn't jose Ra
Miraz yet, and they saw these different potentialities with this guy.
That's some great scouting because of the body type, situation, whatever.
But when you're with them on the field on a
(19:50):
daily basis, he does everything right everything. And when you
talk about the base running, he's probably I don't know
what this the running speed is timed out to be,
but I'd say i'd probably give him a fifty grade,
maybe fifty.
Speaker 4 (20:00):
Five average, a little bit better than average.
Speaker 3 (20:02):
But the base dealing, that's that's just knowing how to
get a jump, how to get how to get a lead,
get a jump, and then what pitcher's gonna run against,
what ketchers can run against whatever. He's just he's he's judicious,
he understands what's going on out there, so he is
all of that. I agree with you, a thousand percent
huge fan. Don't want to see him in a big situation,
(20:25):
and he is. He's all of that. It just doesn't
look like all of that, but he is.
Speaker 1 (20:30):
I love the Kirby Pucket comparison. Hadn't thought about that one,
but that is perfect, you know. I remember cal Ripkin
telling me that Kirby and Dave Winfield, Robin ye Out
were the guys that made him get the ball the
first base in a hurry all the time, no matter
how routine the ground ball was.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
And that's Soose Ramirez.
Speaker 1 (20:46):
I mean, he's got more hustled doubles that I've seen
in the last five six years than anybody. He's out
of the box every time, thinking too, just an all
out effort, high contact guy with power.
Speaker 2 (20:59):
I love that. I hadn't thought about that.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
Kirby Pucket, good comp Joe, worry about the strike zone?
Do you think it's different this year? Have you noticed anything?
I've got a lot of catchers and pictures telling me
that those edge pitches now are being called balls that
used to be strikes.
Speaker 3 (21:14):
Yeah, I overall, I mean this is just when I'm
watching and you know, just just the way like you're
talking about, it's very more more defined, more more confined,
more definitive kind of a thing, smaller than it looks like.
You know, the the catchers are still trying to frame
(21:35):
them and I don't even know or whatever you want
to call that, which I don't like.
Speaker 4 (21:40):
I don't like the way.
Speaker 3 (21:41):
Picture the catchers are pulling pitches. Maybe the empires have
gotten have had enough of that. Maybe there's an off
season meetings. Say, listen, these guys are making us look
bad the way they're pulling pitches.
Speaker 4 (21:49):
And I used to.
Speaker 3 (21:51):
Tell my catchers and when I I was a catching instructor,
you start pulling pitches, uh, and the umpire is going
to say something in your ears, which they do. They
just lean over and they'll say something to you, and
eventually you don't get anything.
Speaker 4 (22:04):
At that point.
Speaker 3 (22:05):
That was you could call it the old school, but
I like that because you have to catch the ball,
receive it well, present it well, but none of this
pulling stuff.
Speaker 4 (22:15):
So maybe they got tired of that.
Speaker 3 (22:16):
I don't know, because I used to always ask my
catchers also when a there's a really close pitch that
you thought was a ball and you wanted to strike,
but you knew it was a ball. In the empire
said ball, I would say tell him, good call. That's right,
good call, because you want to develop this rapport with
these umpires that they could trust you because you're always
(22:37):
talking to them. I need that pitch, we need that pitch.
I want that pitch, that was a good pitch.
Speaker 4 (22:41):
Whatever.
Speaker 3 (22:42):
But then you also got to tell him when he's right. No,
you're right, that was off a little bit whatever, So
I for me, it was just.
Speaker 4 (22:48):
A matter of time.
Speaker 3 (22:48):
I don't know if this is true or not, but
this framing, pulling of pitches, if I was an umpire'd
be insulted by all that, and I would say stop
doing it, or you're getting anything close.
Speaker 2 (22:59):
Yeah, I'm with you on that.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
I'd hate to see that yanking at the baseball into
the zone. I mean to me, you're announcing the balls
out of the zone. The subtlety of it.
Speaker 2 (23:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:07):
Sure, But the number on one rule on framing is
don't lose strikes. You know, make sure the strike is
a strike. I bring it up because, unbeknownst to the players,
I think when the season began, the system the umpires
are graded on has changed this year, okay, and before
last year, umpires were given a buffer zone of two inches.
(23:32):
So if the ball is two inches off the outside
corner and the umpire calls it a strike when he
gets his report after the game, that will go down
as a correct call. So the umpires, I mean, they
make their living on that report card. After the game,
they get a report, how many calls did you make?
Speaker 2 (23:49):
How many did you miss?
Speaker 1 (23:50):
So those are called strikes to the umpire, even if
they're literally out of the zone, So that kind of
defines what they call. Well, this year, that buffer zone
has been reduced to three quarters of an inch. Why
why did it change because of the automatic ball strike system,
the ABS system, which is coming probably next year. You
saw it tried out in spring training, or the batter
(24:14):
catcher pitcher could challenge a ball strike called by an umpire.
It's being done in the minor leagues, it's probably coming
next year the major leagues, so to get ready for that,
and that's a robotic strike zone, so that is literally
an established strike zone. There are no buffers with a machine.
I mean, if you want to get technical, the margin
of error for that is less than a fifth of
(24:36):
an inch.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
It's like minuscule.
Speaker 1 (24:39):
So to get the umpires trained on calling the literal
strike zone, they reduced the buffer zone. So now they're
calling what the pitchers and catchers were saying is a
tighter zone. And I checked the numbers and it's actually true.
And i'd like your thoughts on that.
Speaker 2 (24:56):
Joe.
Speaker 3 (24:57):
First of all, I mean I didn't really see a
whole lot of the automatic strike zone in spring training.
I know, I guess there's kind of a challenge system
involved with that.
Speaker 4 (25:06):
Whatever.
Speaker 3 (25:06):
I don't know how it's going to be implemented next year.
I'd have to see it more. I'm only hesitant only
because the optics of the whole thing. I would bet
that balls that are called pitches that are called strikes
now may look like balls, and pitches that may have
looked like balls are going to be called strikes right now.
So optically, I think you're gonna have to make some
(25:27):
adjustment with that. My biggest concern technology in general. We're
so overwrought with it. There's certain areas of our life
that I don't think it's absolutely necessary. Yeah, I want
my doctors to be caught up on all this stuff.
I want all my surgeons to be caught up on
all this stuff. You know, if I'm defending the United States,
I want all my defense people caught up on all
(25:48):
the tech and all that stuff. When it comes down
to human stuff, like a baseball game, whatever, it's only
it's really I think the biggest part of this is
honestly just because of the ascension of gambling throughout the
sports industries, not just baseball. Everything that perfection is necessary.
People are are so easily to bet on a ball game.
I can pick up my phone right here and make
(26:08):
any kind of a bet. And the fact that it
has to be accurate and precise because people don't want
to be losing money on a human beings call, whereas
it could be corrected technologically speaking.
Speaker 4 (26:19):
So for a lot of reasons I think.
Speaker 3 (26:21):
That has something to do with it, are a lot
to do with it. So again, I'm into tech. There's
so many reasons why I love my I love brand
conditioning in my car. I like the big TV that
I have in my back room there with the great
sounds of them. I love all of that stuff. But
when it comes down in games like this, I want
it to be accurate. But to the point where when
you have to like break it down into these nano moments,
is that really necessary? And I'm probably I don't know.
(26:43):
It's probably a fifty to fifty argument. I think there's
going to be some people that agree with what I'm
seeing and then totally disagree because if it's there and
it's available, why not use it? Only because last point,
tech for me, really subtracts emotion from what we're doing.
In other words, we rely on these things, we stop
thinking for ourselves, we stop, we stop being creative pushing forwardever,
(27:05):
because we succumb to a machine technology parameters that we
can't necessarily see, because our eyes don't move that well,
our brains aren't that good.
Speaker 4 (27:13):
So is that a good thing?
Speaker 3 (27:16):
I'm saying no, anything that really disrupts the creative process I'm.
Speaker 4 (27:19):
Always concerned with.
Speaker 3 (27:20):
So long answer, I'm not entirely convinced. I'd have to
see it the in motion or action, But that's my
concern that that's taking over too much, and I believe
the primary objective is to ameliorate those that.
Speaker 2 (27:36):
Bet on games overall.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
Joe Isaiah one hundred percent agree with you. I think
we do way too much outsourcing of our critical thinking
to machines, and I'm not sure i'd put this in
that category other than I think if we went to
a full on robotic system that would be troubling to me,
where every pitch is up to the machine. I like
the challenge system because it does introduce some strategy to
(27:59):
the game. You know, you only get two, so you're
not going to challenge every single pitch. I like the fact,
there's fan engagement. Like the Hawkeye system in tennis, everybody
finds out at the same time with an animated in
this case view of the strike zone, whether that ball
is in or out, and it goes in less than
seventeen seconds. It does not take a lot of time.
All these things I think are good things. But I
(28:20):
want to point out Joe that it's I like the
calls on the basis right. I don't want games decided
by egregious calls that everybody knows are wrong. I don't
think the umpires want that as well. So I see
this as a backstop against that. You know, that strikeout
call and a tie game and the eighth inning bases
(28:42):
loaded two outs, it's not a strike.
Speaker 2 (28:45):
It changes the game.
Speaker 1 (28:46):
I don't want those calls to stand when we all
can see because the technology is that good that that
will stand. So how often does this kind of stuff happen?
That's the question to me? And how different is the
zone this year? I check the numbers here. On average,
a homeplate umpire is going to make one hundred and
forty five calls a game with ball's not put in
play ball strike calls.
Speaker 2 (29:07):
Of those, most of those are going to be out
of the zone.
Speaker 1 (29:10):
Ninety eight on average, of those one hundred and forty
five calls are in pitches that are out of the zone. Now,
of those ninety eight calls he has to call on
pitches out of the zone, he's gonna call only four
point nine five percent of those are actually called strikes.
You want to call those missed calls, go ahead, these
are borderline calls whatever. So you're talking only about about
(29:33):
four or five pitches per game that quote unquote you're
giving the pitcher a strike. Well, with the quote unquote
new strike zone this year, that's gone up by exactly
one point one pitches, we're talking about one pitch per
game that this quote unquote new strike zone is influencing.
(29:54):
It's not a big deal, is it nothing? No, it's
a little more than nothing, especially if you happen to
be that hitter or you get wrung up on that
one pitch. But it's not worth getting upset of. Now,
if you went back ten years ago and you saw
this joe where umpires had a personal strike zone, not
a defined strike zone, and like you had to figure
out in the first or second inning, what's the strike
(30:15):
zone tonight? Right, or what's he given a pitcher or hey,
you know this is Frank Polli or whoever it is,
this is his strike zone. Yes, back then they were
calling ten pitches per game, not four or five that
were out of the strike zone as strikes. And I
look back in twenty fifteen, Dallas Kaikel won the Cy
(30:36):
Young Award. He threw sixty one percent fastballs that averaged
eighty nine miles per hour. He did not throw a
single pitch in twenty fifteen when he won the Say
Young Award that reached the average fastball velocity of twenty
twenty five. Now, how do you do that? You do
(30:57):
that because you could stretch the strike zone. Then I
don't think Dallas Kaikel or anybody could win to Say
Young today throwing sixty one percent fastballs at eighty nine
miles per hour.
Speaker 2 (31:07):
That's how much the game has changed.
Speaker 1 (31:09):
But I don't think this strike zone quote unquote change
that I'm hearing about from pitchers and catchers is that
big of a deal.
Speaker 3 (31:15):
Yeah, listen, I again, I've seen a little bit of it.
That's a great explanation. A big part of Kyko then
and maybe compared to now, is just the continued.
Speaker 4 (31:27):
Talk about or.
Speaker 3 (31:28):
The morphing into we're going to have it organized strike zone.
It became popular, I think like early two thousands, and
then the Red Sox and the Yankees made it very popular.
Of course the Oakland A's did. Then everybody wanted to
be that group, so it got to the point where
I think it is now where that's one of the
more prominently preached part of it is part of hitting
is to really for the better teams that they have
(31:49):
and organized strikes and they're not going to chase outside
of it. I've saw Kiko pitch and maybe just just
from the fact that he was the ying to the
yang or whatever that everybody's trying to throw so hard,
and then all of a sudden you get a guy
that really flirts with the edges as well as he does,
and it becomes enticing. Even though you have really good
pregame reports, you still see see see it, and all
of a sudden, it's not there anymore.
Speaker 4 (32:11):
So he just mindy he did. He had that one.
Speaker 3 (32:13):
Really really he was good for a bit, but that
one excellent year. So again I guess I'm still lukewarm
on this topic.
Speaker 4 (32:21):
I need to see it in.
Speaker 3 (32:23):
Action more like permanently, but more often, like you said
next year, I don't have a better opinion because I
hear about it. I'm just I'm badgering from a human
perspective it art versus data perspective. I guess that's where
I'm stuck on this whole thing. And I got to,
you know, key State, keep an open mind with it,
watch the whole thing unfold. But again, I'm just you're right.
Speaker 4 (32:45):
I love it.
Speaker 3 (32:45):
On the basis, I thought that was a great move
and I still believe that's that's that's Legit go back
to when jim Joyce blew the perfect game on Galla Raga.
I thought that should have been symbolically the first call
that was changed before as they implemented the system of
challenges on the basis. I think Jimmy Joyce would have
loved that, so would have gone, there's such a dankins.
(33:07):
You're back in ed some really egregiously bad calls on
the basis that can really impact the game, and of
course could happen at home plate. But the more we
keep it in check.
Speaker 4 (33:17):
I like it.
Speaker 1 (33:18):
Yeah, And as you saw when it first was implemented
on the basis, there were times where that pop up slide,
that guy's foot would come off the base by a
millimeter and on replay he'd be out and people complain,
But I was like, you know, once you go down
the rabbit hole of replay, it has to be literal.
There's no gray areas, right, And you're going to see
the same thing next year with the ABS Challenge system.
Speaker 2 (33:40):
On pitches.
Speaker 1 (33:41):
You know there's going to be a pitch that is
a sliver I'm talking a millimeter outside of the established
strike zone and it will be overturned and you'll go like, well,
come on, you got to give them that pitch. But
that's that's what we have. We have an exacting universe
now because of technology, we want to get things down
to the last millimeter. And I do think it's coming
(34:02):
next year. But in the meantime, I'm Joe. I think umpires.
We have to look at umpires. They do a fantastic
job in today's game.
Speaker 3 (34:08):
Oh absolutely, one hundred percent. And let me leave you
with one thought on that one before you get there,
is like perfection. You're talking about perfection, right, Troy Gloss?
You remember Troy Glass, really good baseball player? Yeah, sure, Roy,
I called him, Roy, just drop the tee. Ray would
get upset sometimes and you get down on himself sometimes
and I'd walk up to him.
Speaker 4 (34:26):
I'd tell him two things.
Speaker 3 (34:27):
They said, only takes one at bat, one at bat
to have a great, great night. And number two, perfection
is a boring concept. Once the moment you arrive at perfection,
the game is not nearly as attractive.
Speaker 4 (34:42):
I like that.
Speaker 1 (34:43):
I got to keep that mind watching these umpires, but
I do have tremendous respect for them.
Speaker 2 (34:47):
And it's interesting.
Speaker 1 (34:48):
If you look at there's a website umpire scorecards. It's
not exact in terms of grading the umps, but it's close.
And I was looking the other day at the five
highest rated umpires and they're all under the age of
forty five.
Speaker 4 (35:02):
Who are they?
Speaker 1 (35:03):
Edwin that is is thirty two, Derek Thomas is thirty four,
Mark Ripperger is forty four, Junior Valentine is thirty seven,
and Dan Merzl is thirty seven.
Speaker 2 (35:12):
It's not an accident to me.
Speaker 1 (35:13):
These guys have grown up in terms of growing up,
in terms of training on a Hawkeye system and calling
the literal zone. It's no longer Hey, this is my game,
I'm gonna call my zone.
Speaker 2 (35:24):
So they're being.
Speaker 1 (35:24):
Graded and they have been graded their whole professional lives
that way, so they've been trained that way. And also
think just younger eyes and you know, they don't have
the injuries that let's face it, these if you've been
umpiring fifteen twenty twenty five years, you get banged up,
and I think just the dexterity and you know, being
able to get in proper position and all that stuff.
(35:46):
I think the younger umpires are basically trained better because
they've grown up in this system.
Speaker 4 (35:51):
Rippinger's good.
Speaker 3 (35:52):
I mean, among those five guys you mentioned Junior a
little bit, I saw him, but rip I've always been
a big fan of him, not only the fact that
he's so good as being an umpire, but you could
talk to this guy. Always felt he was the kind
of umpire that you could have a conversation with, disagree
with respectfully.
Speaker 4 (36:09):
And you felt good about it.
Speaker 3 (36:11):
There's certain guys that when they walk out that that
room and they come out to home play, you go
god dang or otherwise. Yes, You've always had that kind
of feeling when you saw the crew. One more point,
like you said about the individuality of umpires in the past.
We used to get heat maps that kind of what
you're referring to, and we would pass out the heat
(36:33):
maps of the each umpire before a series, and with
that a picture with good command and a catcher that
really can recall things you could set up according to
this umpire strike zone. He gave more on the outside edge,
not so much on the inside edge. You have to
know right in the hit or versut left handed pitcher
and vice versa. There was definite a morphic in essense,
(36:54):
they changed a lot, but you had to know these
things and if you stuck to them, you could gain advantages.
Speaker 4 (36:59):
High ball umpire, low ball empire.
Speaker 3 (37:00):
It was just like you're talking about, but it was
kind of interesting because it was part of your setup.
It was part of your pregame meeting, was to break
down the empire.
Speaker 4 (37:08):
Well, where did he like the.
Speaker 3 (37:09):
Pitches and how did he match up to your guy?
I got a sinker ball pitcher today and this guy
doesn't call it anything. Don god, It's like heads up,
here we go. So that was a part of the
landscape literally back then, where that was a part of
the pregame meeting.
Speaker 4 (37:23):
The heat map on the empire.
Speaker 2 (37:25):
I'm so glad those days are over.
Speaker 4 (37:27):
Joe.
Speaker 1 (37:28):
You know, I know you talked about the human element,
but they took it too far. I don't want umpires
determining the strike zone. I want that plate at home
plate to determine the strike zone. I don't want, you know,
a day game, after a night game, or a getaway
game to decide how tight or big the strike zone
is either. So I don't miss those days.
Speaker 4 (37:46):
I'm with you. I'm not arguing for you.
Speaker 1 (37:49):
Right hey, Joe, we're going to take a quick break.
I mentioned one third of the way through the season.
I want to talk about the biggest surprises of the year.
Speaker 2 (37:57):
We're going to talk about that right after this.
Speaker 1 (38:12):
Welcome back to the Book of Joe. Wrapping up with
the biggest surprises. Joe and I just wanted to stick
with teams in this regard here, and I'm going to
give you, in no particular order to me, one of
the biggest or some of the biggest surprises this year.
You can add to it, delete from it. I want
want to get your take. I'm gonna start with the
Chicago Cubs. I thought they'd be better. I didn't see
(38:35):
their offense like this. They are leading the major League
Baseball in run scored six runs per game. A big
part of that is Pete Crow Armstrong has gone from
a guy last year getting the bat knocked out of
his hands to being an impact hitter.
Speaker 2 (38:49):
Of course, added Kyle Tucker.
Speaker 1 (38:51):
They've got tremendous production from their catchers A Maya and
Carson Cubs scoring six runs a game. That's been a
big surprise for me. The Baltimore Orioles, on the negative side,
they basically played themselves out of contention in less than
two months. Didn't like that team coming into the season
because of the pitching. I didn't think they'd be nearly
this bad. Speaking of being this bad, the Colorado Rockies
(39:15):
one of three teams and fired their managers in the
month of May nine and forty five. Nine and forty five.
We didn't think anybody could be as bad as the
White Sox last year, and nobody has been historically. We
might get the answer this year. The Rockies just awful.
Don't see it getting better there. That's a team, by
the way, that I don't know how this happens when
you play in Colorado.
Speaker 2 (39:36):
Their offense stinks.
Speaker 1 (39:37):
Have the highest swing a miss rate in all of
baseball playing in just a dream of a hitter's park.
And finally, John going to give you the fact that
six teams reached a third way through the season. Six
teams playing six hundred baseball or better. This is a
very top heavy sport, like the bottom of the sport
is awful, and teams are racking up a ton of
(39:59):
wins against the back end of the teams in baseball,
So you got six teams ever happened before in the
wildcard era. Last year there was one team that finished
with six hundred baseball record.
Speaker 2 (40:11):
This year we have six so far.
Speaker 1 (40:13):
So it's a very bifurcated game to me, where you
have the elites and you know they have nots really
have nothing. I mean just when you play the White Sox,
the Marlins, the Orioles are starting to get into this group,
but you know the teams at the bottom, the Rockies,
you almost have to sweep those teams. So, just to
give you an example, from two thousand and six to thirteen,
(40:35):
an eight year period, there were only five teams total
that played six hundred baseball. We have six so far
this year. I don't expect that to last. That all
six are going to finish that high above or at
least that with a winning percentage of six hundred, but
certainly you're probably gonna get four or five.
Speaker 2 (40:51):
So that's my take.
Speaker 1 (40:52):
I get the Cubs, the Rockies, the Orioles, the top
of the market and the bottom of the market as
my biggest surprises from a team perspective.
Speaker 2 (40:58):
One third of the way in.
Speaker 3 (41:00):
Well, first with the Cubs, I've been watching the Armstrong
from what I gather and I've read, and I'm watching it.
He finally learned how to stay behind the ball.
Speaker 2 (41:08):
That's it, exactly.
Speaker 4 (41:10):
Watch watch him swing.
Speaker 3 (41:11):
I mean every swing he takes, Man, he is behind
the baseball and that's where the pop is coming from.
And his confidence is sowing. He's already a wonderful outfielder.
He runs really well, he's got all the other tools
in the toolbox of it. Now, Wow, his confidence is
soaring so much. And give him credit. Whichever coach it
was that saw that thought about, that gave him that thought.
(41:33):
It's a thought, then it's a feel. Then it becomes
part of your game. And heads up, man, because there's
no reason he's gonna go bad at some point.
Speaker 4 (41:42):
I know he swings a lot. I guess that was
part of the issue.
Speaker 3 (41:44):
But listen, we just like we're talking about with Soto,
swing it, man, every pitch is you're pitched hit until
you say no.
Speaker 4 (41:49):
He is the number one difference.
Speaker 3 (41:51):
But I think he would not be as influential if
it wasn't for Tucker. I think Tucker is the guy
that really changes the whole attitude of this group. This
guy to me, like I've said, at the beginning of
the year, I thought he's right up there with Soto
or and I said I if I had a chance
to get either one of those two, I would take
Tucker over Soto. I think he's that good. I just
think he's that he's a complete baseball player. The guy
(42:11):
hits left, he's tough, and he's hitting two eighty two
ninety right now, and he's gonna He hasn't really hit
his stride yet, but he will. So it starts with
Tucker and then PA's really been the beneficiary in the
Suzuki all the other dudes, like you said, up and
down on line if they've gotten some great production. Baltimore,
I thought was going to be in the playoffs again
this year. Really disappointing. Like you've suggested, I know the
(42:33):
pitching is bad, but I watched them. There's there's like
a malaise about them. I think they they got behind
the eight ball so badly they didn't know what to do.
Speaker 2 (42:41):
And eventually I like that point.
Speaker 3 (42:43):
And then and Hyder. I love Brandon Hype.
Speaker 4 (42:46):
I do.
Speaker 3 (42:47):
I think he's that good of a baseball guy. I
hope he resurfaces again. But they they got so far back,
they just meant internally panicked. They just didn't know how
to get out of it. And they and then the Rockies.
The last time I had a I was on a
team like with a record like that was the seventy
three scrant And Red Sox and the Collegiate Baseball League.
Oh my god, it was awful. It's awful going to
(43:08):
the ballpark every day. You talk about not knowing what
to do. That they could hit a reset right now,
they would, They would just forfeit the rest of their
games and go to instructional league and just try to
you know, what could we do differently? And that's leads
to the next point, everybody trying to be the same.
That's there's the six hundred teams, and these teams have
a combination of I think the you know, the leadership,
their front office is really good. They got dough to
(43:30):
spend for the most part, and they don't miss the
evaluation wise they got they're able to evaluate. They got
the money to back up their theories, and their theories
are good, and they're able to utilize the analytical world
in a way that benefits them.
Speaker 4 (43:43):
Now, the other groups, the groups in the subgroups.
Speaker 3 (43:46):
Want to be like them, but they can't for a
variety of different reasons, whether it's the leadership, the way
players are evaluated, the way they go about their training,
the part of the game that they're emphasizing, and how
they're on a daily basis, how that's going to be
extracted from this group. What is demanded of them, what's
not demanded of them? All these things. I've said this
(44:06):
a couple of days ago in a different situation. You
cannot try to be like the Dodgers if you're the Rockies.
As an example, the Orioles were, China, go on that path,
Yankees and the well, the Red Sox can't even say
that anymore, but play your own game.
Speaker 4 (44:24):
Everybody's tied to the same.
Speaker 3 (44:28):
Methods in regards to the kind of data they're utilizing.
They talk so much. It's an acetual business. They talk
all the time among each other. I'm talking about front offices,
and it's more of a battle of front offices as
opposed to team on the field.
Speaker 4 (44:43):
I want to see.
Speaker 3 (44:43):
Somebody go rogue, a little bit rogue regarding how they
play the game. And I want to see more of
an attitude benefiting or benefiting from some past experiences and
not just fall in the air. Strikeouts are okay, try
to walk, spind the ball at the top of the zone.
I'd like to see more diversity, like okay, diversity within
(45:06):
how you're playing your game, because if you're not of
that ilk, if you are not the Dodgers to expect
on an annual basis to come back and be competitive
annually and not just have five hundred be your goal.
How disgusting or boring is that they have five hundred
be your goal. You have to think out outside the
proverbial box and what does that mean. I just like saying,
(45:27):
play the complete game. Don't be so tied down to
these the new mora's of like how are the games
supposed to be played? And be afraid to walk away
from that because you don't want to be this outlier
and just follow the tenets of what's being passed from
one group to the other.
Speaker 4 (45:42):
That's what I see.
Speaker 3 (45:43):
So these other groups, just circle your wagons, come up
with your own, your own plan, and don't try to
be like the Dodgers or try to be like the Rais.
Be like you, understand what you guys think is important
and play that game.
Speaker 1 (45:57):
Well said, I mean, I talked about those six teams, Joe,
you're talking about to New York, one, Philly, one, Los
Angeles one, Chicago and then Detroit.
Speaker 2 (46:08):
So the big markets are the big markets this year.
Speaker 3 (46:11):
Yeah, kick them in the shins. Kick him in the shins.
The guy with the the lion's head coach, it's his
name again, I'm sorry Campbell, Dan Campbell.
Speaker 4 (46:19):
When he first came in at his press conference, but I.
Speaker 3 (46:21):
Can't remember the exact but he pretty much said that,
you know, we're not gonna we're not gonna cater to
everybody else. Although he is a very analytical coach and
he does rely on analytics to take chances, which I'm
good because, after all, analytics do provide a safety and
effort decision making always. But you can't try to play
their game and expect to be successful, play your own.
Speaker 2 (46:40):
I like that.
Speaker 1 (46:41):
Now I'm gonna ask you to come up with our
thought of the day. That was a good one, but
I know you've got something locked and loaded that's even better.
Speaker 2 (46:47):
So what do you got?
Speaker 3 (46:49):
I guess it does apply. Steve DeMarco a friend of
mine who runs golf tournaments. I'm going to play down
in Nashville this weekend, the Tunnels of Tower tournament while
the joiner he stearheads it down there. But anyway, he
sends me. Steve sends me these daily quotes, and this
one comes from Tuerky Guard, which gosh, this is like,
you know, these dudes just sit around, they think of
(47:09):
some great stuff all the time.
Speaker 4 (47:10):
But I love this.
Speaker 3 (47:12):
People demand freedom of speech as compensation for the freedom
of thought, which they seldom use exactly what I'm use
your You know, it's like everybody wants freedom of speech, great,
and it's there in place of freedom of thought. Okay, good,
I got my freedom of thought. But everybody wants group thing.
Everybody wants to be like everybody else. My god, it
(47:36):
really stands out to me as I watch a lot
of whatever transpires around us, talking points, narratives to just
driven to death because everybody seems to be afraid to
use their own mind thought experience, reading, I mean, and
reading means a lot. The books that you've read, what
you've studied in the past, those are your thoughts come from,
(47:56):
and of course your daily experiences. So I love that
demand freedom of speech, and it's compensation for the free
them of thought which.
Speaker 4 (48:04):
They sell them use.
Speaker 3 (48:07):
It was Soren what's his name, Soorren kirkerguard right anyway,
echo chambers, get rid of them. We don't need echo chambers.
Let's get some freedom of thought going on. Your Rocky's
got to create your own game plan. How do you
dig yourself out of this hole? Write it down, stick
to it, and then be flexible with it the only
way it's going to happen.
Speaker 1 (48:26):
I love that, and I'm sure jobeah it applies to
running a baseball game as a manager. We talked about
Steve Abbol walking shoe Otani. You know, I'm not sure
he went in the game thinking he was going to
do that, but in that blink moment, as you call it, yep,
it was in his mind the right thing to do. Now,
whether it turned out or not, I don't care, but
I like the fact that he thought differently.
Speaker 4 (48:47):
I've listened.
Speaker 3 (48:47):
It's it's a decision he made and whether, like you said,
whether it works or not according to the public perception
of the general outcome, it was you. You did what
your thought was the right thing to do in the moment,
and you know there's the out Comebias is always right.
Speaker 4 (49:06):
But when you have to think in advance, in a
hot moment that things.
Speaker 3 (49:11):
Are going rather quickly, and you've given it thought prior
to And that's why I'm big on the prior to thought.
I think, like I said, I would have had that
thought in my head prior to the game. Sometimes it
alects temporaneously occurred during the game, but more often than not,
I would give that in advanced thought. And that's that's
a big part of planning in the baseball game. And
(49:31):
I would bet that voter had thought of that. And
I'm all about it, man, I think that's great.
Speaker 2 (49:37):
Cool stuff.
Speaker 1 (49:38):
Joe, here comes June and the middle third of the
season coming up.
Speaker 2 (49:41):
Can't believe where they're already.
Speaker 4 (49:43):
You got a brother. Yes, it's going to be interesting.
Speaker 3 (49:45):
It's going to get quicker and quicker and quicker. It's
like a roll of toilet paper. The closer you get
to the end, the faster it goes.
Speaker 2 (49:52):
We'll see you next time on the Book of Joe.
Speaker 4 (49:54):
All right, brother, thank you.
Speaker 1 (50:03):
The Book of Joe podcast is a production of iHeartRadio.
For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you get your podcasts.
The Book of Joe podcast is a production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Hey Daron, welcome back.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
It is the Book of Joe Podcast with me, Tom
Berducci and Joe Madden. Hey Joe, we are now one
third of the way through the Major League Baseball season.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
How about that two months?
Speaker 3 (00:29):
In the books, what happens is you go to spring
training and it's slow time, and it just seems like
the days are twenty eight hours. Gets so the point
becomes very boring in a sense. Spring training's too long.
We need to shorten this thing up. And I always
argued against that. I always thought it was just the
right amount of time. So you get through camp, teason begins,
play game day off, play game day off, rain out, whatever,
(00:51):
slow time. But then eventually it gathers momentum, and once
it turns over, like you know, like the proverbial engine run,
and then it turns over, then it goes and right
now they're gonna start feeling that in fact, he got
to this point a third of the way in.
Speaker 4 (01:07):
This is where it starts.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
Get a little bit quickly before you not it's the
All Star break, but it's always felt that way. Slow time,
and then when it turns into fast time.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
Heads up, Yeah, thanks for bringing up memories of my
nineteen seventy three Plymouth satellite.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
There you go made that engine.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
God that that was a fantastic few three eighteen or
three eighty three.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Do you remember three eighteen? It was an old police
car could run great. Hey, a lot of things. I
want to get to you.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
I want to get to your take and mine on
the biggest surprises of the first third of the season.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
We'll get to that.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
We'll get to a future Hall of Famer you might
not have noticed in plain sight. But we need to
end the strike zone. I got to talk to you,
Joe about the strike zone here. But Joe, I want
to talk to you about a couple of our favorite subjects,
the two highest paid players in the game, sho.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
He Otani and Juan Soto.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
And for very different reasons, Shoe just continues to amaze us, right,
I mean, as much as we see him and you know,
understand what he's doing historically on a day basis that
he does something that just makes you go wow. So
he goes to Cleveland. He's hit home runs in two
straight games on the first basically first pitch, first swing
(02:13):
of the game, they strike him out. Tanner Bibe strikes
him out the first time. Second time up, Joe, they're
already down. The Guardians are down two nothing. There's a
runner on third base and two outs with Tanner Bibe,
he's probably the best Guardians pitcher.
Speaker 4 (02:26):
On that.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
They walked him intentionally early in the game. We're talking
second ending, already trailing too, with Mooki.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
Betts behind him.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
Now Mookie walked, and then they Bibe actually struck out
Freddy Freeman, and then next time up it shows you
why they walked.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
Show Hey.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
He hits a home run to the left field, opposite field,
thirty nine degree pop fly, strong enough to hit it
out of the park. Joe, give me your take on
that as a Steven vote or any opposing manager facing
Show Hey, when you know you've got Mooki and Freeman
behind him, and you still say we want.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
No part of this guy early in the game trailing two.
Speaker 4 (03:02):
To me, that would be based on trends.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
I mean, of course, he is who he is normally
all the time, but if there's any kind of there's
still be times in Show doesn't go exactly as hot
as he is right now. And then when we get
to that point, I think they would choose to pitch
to him. But when he's doing what he's doing, like
right now, and listen, Best is having a good year
of Freeman his freame, and I understand all that, but
sometimes you just you just pick your poison. It could
(03:24):
be just based on right handedness, you know, and with
Betts a couple of years ago he was actually better
against righties than lefties, and so he's still got that
within his abilities.
Speaker 4 (03:35):
But yeah, you make up your mind before the game begins.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
I would listen if it gets to this point shows
us looking invincible right now. I know it's weird to
walk him for these particular hitters, but you do. And
then sometimes it just it does, in some weird way,
apply a little bit more pressure to the guys coming up.
They may handle their battle little bit more differently, and
you know, just start thinking about it as opposed to
(03:58):
is just going up there and hitting.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
And oh, by the way, Joe, he's doing this while
he's preparing to pitch again. I mean he just threw
live BP the other day. I mean he's rehabbing from
a second elbow surgery, getting ready to get on the mound.
Probably a month or two, and he's just dominating in
the batter's box.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
Watch his face though, I mean, the guy's always in charge, right,
He's always he never looks like he's in trouble, like
it's not concerned. He's got his relaxed method about himself
where he's just he's very confident. And that's part of
why he's as good as he is. He is not
overwhelmed by the days. Not overwhelmed by the game is stature, pressure, whatever.
(04:38):
He's fueled by all this stuff. So he's even in
his worst moments, he still looks good. He looks good
when he's going bad. So these are all the different
things you have to consider with him. And I saw
the home run. I've talked about this with you recently
about the fly balls going out. That ball went straight
up in the air and it was OPO. I'm a
little concerned about the baseball still, but there's been a
(05:00):
lot of flyballs and fly balls APO that are going
out of ballparks. I'm a little my conspiracy anten are up.
But listen, he's strong, he's good.
Speaker 4 (05:09):
I get all that.
Speaker 3 (05:10):
But that was a flyball the left that kept going.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
Yeah, you're right, thirty nine degree launch angle. It tied
his career high for an opposite field home run. The
other one was back in twenty twenty in Seattle. He
did hit at one hundred and four miles per hour,
so he got a good piece of it. But that's
his fourth opposite field home run this year. They've all
been in the exact same location, middle away, and you
(05:32):
know how dangerous show Hey gets when he covers the
whole field like that.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
A couple of things on show Ay.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
First of all, his slugging percentage the last three seasons
six fifty four, six forty six, six forty eight. I mean,
it's just amazing he's on pace that hit fifty nine
home runs this year. Here's the other thing, Joe that
really stands out to me. You know what a great
base runner he is, especially in this lineup we mentioned
with Freeman and Bets behind him, two of the best
(06:00):
runners in scoring position hitters of this generation. And that's
not an exaggeration. He's scored fifty seven runs in the
team's first fifty four games. The last player to score
one hundred and sixty two runs one per team game
was lou Gerrigg in nineteen thirty six. Now, since then,
(06:23):
there's only been three players who scored even one hundred
and fifty runs, Jeff Bagwell in two thousand, Ted Williams
in nineteen forty nine, and Joe DiMaggio in nineteen thirty seven.
I would now put it past him and this Dodger
team behind him. With him and Joe, he's going to
score one hundred and fifty runs. He's just on base
all the time, and he's a great base runner, and
(06:44):
oh yeah, he knocks himself in fifty to sixty times.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
I was listening to all that. I don't think any
of them were real blazers. I mean, he's probably the
fastest out of that whole group.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
That's right.
Speaker 3 (06:53):
That just speaks of the entirety of the lineups. Gerig
did I guess he must have hit? Did he hit
in front of Ruth? I don't even know hit in
front of behind Ruth? I mean hit behind him Ruth.
That just speaks of the whole thing. Yeah, it's just
it's good base like this. You don't have to be
fast to be a good base runner. I've always that
was one of the first things I told the guys
in my base running classes. Actually did the gig yesterday
(07:15):
with Brian Kenney were talking about the Orioles and losing
Hyder and all this stuff, and one of the things
that had been down with them they considered was their
base running and the just not a very good base
running team this year. And to me, that's one thing
that if you're a good athlete, and even you you
don't have to be a fast runner, but you just
have to have like an attitude about yourself. You know
how to get to the next base. You know the
(07:37):
instinctively what to look for. You know what people's arms
will look like. You know what when a guy moves
to his riders left in the outfit, what that means
to your ability to advance the base. So it's just
it's it's basically like your baseball Instinctively, when I scouted
the guy a player showed me on the basis something instinctive,
I would automatically kick in the gear that I think
this guy's got pretty good instincts for the game. I
(07:58):
think it's demonstrated there good base runners. When you're a
good base runner, you indicate I understand the game pretty well.
So all these guys you're talking about, obviously great players,
not the fastest in the world, but instinctively good baseball players,
and they paid attention on the basis, which I think
is spectacular.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
Yeah, I agree with you, Joe.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
It's a kind of a I think it underrepresented part
of what makes a great baseball player. And whether you
call it instincts or awareness, whatever it is, I think
it's not necessarily tied directly to speed, Which brings me
to Juan Soto. And listen, we just talked about it's
a third of the way through the season. I'm not
worried about Juan Soto, but I just want to talk
(08:39):
Joe about what we've seen so far. Assuming he's going
to come out of this funk that he's been in,
and it is a funk, I'm going to throw some
numbers at you here, Joe. Let me start with base riding.
By the way, since you brought it up. His sprint speed,
which is never great. He's not a burner, right. Last
year was twenty six point eight feet per second. He's
(09:00):
down the twenty five point eight feet per second. He
was in the thirty six percentile last year, he's down
the seventeenth percentile. Why in the world would someone at
twenty six years old have his sprint speed go down
like that.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
I don't understand that.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
If you look at just players who are twenty six
and younger, there's only four players who are slower than
Wan Soto, Alejandro Kirk, Cabert Ruiz, two catchers, Nolan Shanuel,
and eastac Paradis. I was watching the other day the
Dodgers pulled off the old five man infield trick right,
and they actually got a ground ball the third base.
(09:37):
The second baseman Lee had to hustle behind back to
the base, get the base ball and throw the first
and he turned it easily. Want Soto was the runner
on first base and watching the high home angle. Now again,
Joe Infield is in the first basement, is in front
of him.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
He has a small lead at first base.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
He's not even as far as Freddie Freeman the first basement.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
And then there was zero secondary Lee.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
So what should have been a difficult double play to turn,
Soto actually has to do an emergency slide about, you know,
way in front of the bag just to get out
of the way of the throw. He's not close to
being on top of the second basement there. That really
caught my attention A question.
Speaker 4 (10:21):
On that one. Was it a left handed hitter? Do
you remember it was the right handed hitter.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
I was a right handed hitter pulled to the left side.
Speaker 3 (10:28):
Here's the thing when you as a first base coach,
when you get in a situation like that on a
secondary lead where you don't want to get doubled up.
And I got this from Bobby Kinnopp, you never asked
the runner to exceed the defender at first base because
of a line drive. If you can't get back to
the bagger's an automatic double play. So that was actually
the benchmark for your secondary lead in that situation where
(10:50):
getting doubled up online drive could hurt you a lot.
Speaker 4 (10:52):
So I don't know if that was in his mind.
Speaker 1 (10:54):
Well he wasn't as far as the first baseman, and
remember the first basement.
Speaker 2 (10:58):
Is in front of him.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
That grass right. For me, I realized, you got to
get back on the line.
Speaker 3 (11:04):
Well, your secondary lead is you get to the point
where he is wherever that first basement is. You get
to that point, you don't want to exceed that point.
If the balls hit to the first baseman's left on
the line drive, he easily gets the ball tag's first
base double play, So that's just the mechanics of it.
But back to the original point, I think he's not
interested right now.
Speaker 4 (11:23):
He's uninterested because he's not hitting.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
And listen, I'm you know, body language is whatever, but
you can just see it in his face. And everybody's
making note of the fact that he's not doing that
little Soto shuffle, all these little the nuanced kind of
things that he normally does to intimidate the other side.
His confidence has taken a hit.
Speaker 4 (11:42):
He's reading a.
Speaker 3 (11:43):
Lot of the stuff that's been written. He's worried about
too many different things. In spite of I'm sure Mendoza,
who I think has a really good bedside manner, probably
trying to say the right thing to him until he
starts hitting. It's going to stay this way. Once he
starts hitting, the smile is going to come back, the
interest level is going to come back up, the shuffle's
going to happen, and then the better second really is
(12:03):
going to occur. I'm just telling you that's that's exactly
what I'm seeing right now, and I think that's just
the way it is. That's kind of like his personality,
I believe, and I'm not here to condemn.
Speaker 4 (12:13):
Him or judgement. I'm just telling you what I think.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
So I'll defend the lead only from the perspective of
the kind of secondary you take in the line drive situation,
even with the first spaceman in front of you.
Speaker 4 (12:23):
But overall the speed and if.
Speaker 3 (12:25):
He's being compared to some of those guys in his
running speed to first space, obviously there's a lack of interest,
confidence and it's just weighing on him heavily, and he's
just got to get by it.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
I agree with you on getting him right. You know,
once that swing is in place, he's going to take off.
And when I was talking to Scott Boris's agent, you know,
Scott basically said, listen, you know, it's a difficult headspace
he's in right now because he is defined by the contract.
And as Scott likes to say, it's difficult wearing that
crown when that is now your identity, and he's having
(12:57):
a hard time dealing with that, not necessarily New York,
it's just being defined by seven hundred and sixty five
million dollars. So Scott's advice to him was, until you
get to that comfort level, swing less, because the swing
isn't there and you look at the numbers.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
Oh my goodness, he's swinging less. He's looking at a
ton of strikes.
Speaker 1 (13:17):
The major league average hitter swings at a pitch in
the strike zone sixty seven percent of the time. In
SODA's career, he swings sixty percent. So he's always been patient.
We know that this year that's down to fifty five percent.
He's just taking a ton of strikes in the zone.
Polled ground ball rate is higher than it's ever been
(13:37):
in his career. He's hitting one thirty on sinkers and sliders.
Because to me, Joe, he's not nearly as much into
his legs as he used to be. He's much more upright.
He's not handling that pitch down. All these numbers career
low first pitch swing percentage, career low swing rate overall.
Last year, he hit twenty four home runs that were
(13:58):
called no doubters. That means they were out of every park,
all thirty parks. This year he has hit one. Yeah,
I mean, it's almost like it's a different player, but
just as passive as he is in the box. It's just,
you know, as you said, I'm not sure what Mendoza
can do other than obviously support him. He did move
(14:20):
him down to the three spot, but he's got to
swing his way out of this at some point.
Speaker 4 (14:24):
I like Scott Borrows. I think he's brilliant. I like
him a.
Speaker 3 (14:26):
Lot, but I disagree with this completely swinging less. Then
you get in the maybe mode. He's to discuss this
with Darren nurstadt Erst. He would get in the maybe mode.
Should I swinger? Should I not swing? Whenever you're in
the maybe mode, nothing good really does occur. This guy
has an exceptional eye at the plate. He's one of
the best, so rely on that. He's got to get
more into Every pitch is his pitch to hit until
(14:49):
his brain wants to shut it down.
Speaker 4 (14:50):
That's the approach I would take with him.
Speaker 3 (14:52):
A B. The pull side of the field does not exist.
Right center is the right field fouling to you from
for the next week or two weeks, whatever it might take.
Speaker 4 (15:00):
That's the right field line.
Speaker 3 (15:02):
I want everything hit from that right center field foul
line to the left field line. I want as many
singles as you can hit up the middle of the
ballpark as often as you can. That's where I would
go with it. He is such a wonderful, discerning eye
to say take more. That's confusing him right now. I
have to believe that he's at least lost his is.
He's always had a wonderful aggressiveness on his pitch, so
(15:24):
I think that's counterintuitive to what he does.
Speaker 4 (15:27):
He doesn't go up there to look to take.
Speaker 3 (15:29):
He goes up there to look to swing until the
point is wonderful instincts to him not to so right
field foul line is right center field no longer the
right field line. Play with the middle of the field. Mentally,
take as many singles as you can for right now,
and don't think swing lesser, swing more. Every pitch is
my pitch to hit until my mind, body, instinct, eyeballs
(15:52):
tell me no.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
It sounds like a good approach Joe, again, knowing he
is a very patient hitter, but I think he's taking
it so far. He's seeing more pitches in the strike
zone than ever before in his career, and he is
swinging at them less than ever and doing less with
them when he does swing, and that needs to change.
Speaker 3 (16:12):
I would wonder if Scotty like analytically had the boys
check something out regarding slumps or whatever.
Speaker 4 (16:18):
He's probably thinking that you're.
Speaker 3 (16:19):
Swinging too much, putting too many balls in play that
you normally don't that kind of a thought process. But
I mean the guy as he has all the bells
in whistle Soto does, so we have to how do
we bring out all that that wonderful standard equipment that
he has and to attempt to do something you don't
normally do, like be passive.
Speaker 4 (16:39):
To me, be the wrong way to go about it.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
Well, I mentioned Joe, a future Hall of Famer within
our midst to a lot of people may not think
that way. I will reveal that player, and I'll do
that right after we take a quick break on the
Book of Joe.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
Welcome back to the Book of Joe. Hey, Joe.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
I'm doing a game the other day in Detroit. It's
Guardians against the Tigers. And if you didn't know Jose
Ramirez is a player, this was a great example, two
strike breaking ball, bottom of his own. He just had
a great two strike approach, just flipped it in the
center field for a base hit. Guardians are down by
one run. Base hit followed and he goes first to
(17:27):
third easily. Now he's on third base. The Tigers bring
the infield in it's a ground ball to the first
baseman who's up on the grass, Spencer Torkelsen. He fields
it perfectly, throws a strike to the plate. Jose Ramirez
is safe. I mean he had the perfect textbook secondary lead, read, jump, speed, slide, everything,
(17:49):
just textbook baseball. The more you watch this guy play,
Jose Ramirez, the more you're blown away. As Stephen Bote said,
there's only a handful of guys who could have scored
on that ball. I mean nothing Spencer Torkelsen could have done,
because he did everything perfectly to get him out at
home plate. So Jose Ramirez just played in his fifteen
(18:12):
hundredth major league game. He is one of only seven
players with two hundred and fifty homers and two hundred
and fifty stolen bases through fifteen hundred games. But he
is one of only two players to do that with
so few strikeouts, striking out less than a thousand times.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
The other one is Barry Bonds. That's it.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
I mean, this guy's got power, he's got speed, and
he puts the ball in play, and he's just a
winning baseball player. I think he's one of the best
base runners in the game. And it has been for years,
so he's come close to winning MVPs. You know, it's
Cleveland doesn't get the attention. But when you look at
the package of skills of Jose Ramirez, he is on
the Hall of Fame highway.
Speaker 3 (18:51):
Brother, I've been a fan ever since I first saw
this guy. The thing is, you walk into the ballpark
and you ask who's the best player on the team,
and just look at the guys physically.
Speaker 4 (19:01):
And you would probably not go there.
Speaker 3 (19:03):
It's almost it's like a not quite but like a
Kirby Pucket kind of a thing.
Speaker 4 (19:06):
You know.
Speaker 3 (19:06):
When I first saw I saw Kirby Pucket, I was
scouting the Junior College World Series in Grand Junction, Colorado.
I think it was nineteen eighty one, nineteen eighty two.
He was playing for Triton Junior College and I'm watching
this little like bowling ball kind of an outfielder. My god,
I mean, he went to the line, did the spin
turn through a bullet to second base. He ran extremely well,
(19:28):
had this line drive pop all the like the body
belied the abilities. And it's the same thing with Ramires.
You really got to pay attention to this. I mean,
whoever scout at this obviously because he wasn't jose Ra
Miraz yet, and they saw these different potentialities with this guy.
That's some great scouting because of the body type, situation, whatever.
But when you're with them on the field on a
(19:50):
daily basis, he does everything right everything. And when you
talk about the base running, he's probably I don't know
what this the running speed is timed out to be,
but I'd say i'd probably give him a fifty grade,
maybe fifty.
Speaker 4 (20:00):
Five average, a little bit better than average.
Speaker 3 (20:02):
But the base dealing, that's that's just knowing how to
get a jump, how to get how to get a lead,
get a jump, and then what pitcher's gonna run against,
what ketchers can run against whatever. He's just he's he's judicious,
he understands what's going on out there, so he is
all of that. I agree with you, a thousand percent
huge fan. Don't want to see him in a big situation,
(20:25):
and he is. He's all of that. It just doesn't
look like all of that, but he is.
Speaker 1 (20:30):
I love the Kirby Pucket comparison. Hadn't thought about that one,
but that is perfect, you know. I remember cal Ripkin
telling me that Kirby and Dave Winfield, Robin ye Out
were the guys that made him get the ball the
first base in a hurry all the time, no matter
how routine the ground ball was.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
And that's Soose Ramirez.
Speaker 1 (20:46):
I mean, he's got more hustled doubles that I've seen
in the last five six years than anybody. He's out
of the box every time, thinking too, just an all
out effort, high contact guy with power.
Speaker 2 (20:59):
I love that. I hadn't thought about that.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
Kirby Pucket, good comp Joe, worry about the strike zone?
Do you think it's different this year? Have you noticed anything?
I've got a lot of catchers and pictures telling me
that those edge pitches now are being called balls that
used to be strikes.
Speaker 3 (21:14):
Yeah, I overall, I mean this is just when I'm
watching and you know, just just the way like you're
talking about, it's very more more defined, more more confined,
more definitive kind of a thing, smaller than it looks like.
You know, the the catchers are still trying to frame
(21:35):
them and I don't even know or whatever you want
to call that, which I don't like.
Speaker 4 (21:40):
I don't like the way.
Speaker 3 (21:41):
Picture the catchers are pulling pitches. Maybe the empires have
gotten have had enough of that. Maybe there's an off
season meetings. Say, listen, these guys are making us look
bad the way they're pulling pitches.
Speaker 4 (21:49):
And I used to.
Speaker 3 (21:51):
Tell my catchers and when I I was a catching instructor,
you start pulling pitches, uh, and the umpire is going
to say something in your ears, which they do. They
just lean over and they'll say something to you, and
eventually you don't get anything.
Speaker 4 (22:04):
At that point.
Speaker 3 (22:05):
That was you could call it the old school, but
I like that because you have to catch the ball,
receive it well, present it well, but none of this
pulling stuff.
Speaker 4 (22:15):
So maybe they got tired of that.
Speaker 3 (22:16):
I don't know, because I used to always ask my
catchers also when a there's a really close pitch that
you thought was a ball and you wanted to strike,
but you knew it was a ball. In the empire
said ball, I would say tell him, good call. That's right,
good call, because you want to develop this rapport with
these umpires that they could trust you because you're always
(22:37):
talking to them. I need that pitch, we need that pitch.
I want that pitch, that was a good pitch.
Speaker 4 (22:41):
Whatever.
Speaker 3 (22:42):
But then you also got to tell him when he's right. No,
you're right, that was off a little bit whatever, So
I for me, it was just.
Speaker 4 (22:48):
A matter of time.
Speaker 3 (22:48):
I don't know if this is true or not, but
this framing, pulling of pitches, if I was an umpire'd
be insulted by all that, and I would say stop
doing it, or you're getting anything close.
Speaker 2 (22:59):
Yeah, I'm with you on that.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
I'd hate to see that yanking at the baseball into
the zone. I mean to me, you're announcing the balls
out of the zone. The subtlety of it.
Speaker 2 (23:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:07):
Sure, But the number on one rule on framing is
don't lose strikes. You know, make sure the strike is
a strike. I bring it up because, unbeknownst to the players,
I think when the season began, the system the umpires
are graded on has changed this year, okay, and before
last year, umpires were given a buffer zone of two inches.
(23:32):
So if the ball is two inches off the outside
corner and the umpire calls it a strike when he
gets his report after the game, that will go down
as a correct call. So the umpires, I mean, they
make their living on that report card. After the game,
they get a report, how many calls did you make?
Speaker 2 (23:49):
How many did you miss?
Speaker 1 (23:50):
So those are called strikes to the umpire, even if
they're literally out of the zone, So that kind of
defines what they call. Well, this year, that buffer zone
has been reduced to three quarters of an inch. Why
why did it change because of the automatic ball strike system,
the ABS system, which is coming probably next year. You
saw it tried out in spring training, or the batter
(24:14):
catcher pitcher could challenge a ball strike called by an umpire.
It's being done in the minor leagues, it's probably coming
next year the major leagues, so to get ready for that,
and that's a robotic strike zone, so that is literally
an established strike zone. There are no buffers with a machine.
I mean, if you want to get technical, the margin
of error for that is less than a fifth of
(24:36):
an inch.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
It's like minuscule.
Speaker 1 (24:39):
So to get the umpires trained on calling the literal
strike zone, they reduced the buffer zone. So now they're
calling what the pitchers and catchers were saying is a
tighter zone. And I checked the numbers and it's actually true.
And i'd like your thoughts on that.
Speaker 2 (24:56):
Joe.
Speaker 3 (24:57):
First of all, I mean I didn't really see a
whole lot of the automatic strike zone in spring training.
I know, I guess there's kind of a challenge system
involved with that.
Speaker 4 (25:06):
Whatever.
Speaker 3 (25:06):
I don't know how it's going to be implemented next year.
I'd have to see it more. I'm only hesitant only
because the optics of the whole thing. I would bet
that balls that are called pitches that are called strikes
now may look like balls, and pitches that may have
looked like balls are going to be called strikes right now.
So optically, I think you're gonna have to make some
(25:27):
adjustment with that. My biggest concern technology in general. We're
so overwrought with it. There's certain areas of our life
that I don't think it's absolutely necessary. Yeah, I want
my doctors to be caught up on all this stuff.
I want all my surgeons to be caught up on
all this stuff. You know, if I'm defending the United States,
I want all my defense people caught up on all
(25:48):
the tech and all that stuff. When it comes down
to human stuff, like a baseball game, whatever, it's only
it's really I think the biggest part of this is
honestly just because of the ascension of gambling throughout the
sports industries, not just baseball. Everything that perfection is necessary.
People are are so easily to bet on a ball game.
I can pick up my phone right here and make
(26:08):
any kind of a bet. And the fact that it
has to be accurate and precise because people don't want
to be losing money on a human beings call, whereas
it could be corrected technologically speaking.
Speaker 4 (26:19):
So for a lot of reasons I think.
Speaker 3 (26:21):
That has something to do with it, are a lot
to do with it. So again, I'm into tech. There's
so many reasons why I love my I love brand
conditioning in my car. I like the big TV that
I have in my back room there with the great
sounds of them. I love all of that stuff. But
when it comes down in games like this, I want
it to be accurate. But to the point where when
you have to like break it down into these nano moments,
is that really necessary? And I'm probably I don't know.
(26:43):
It's probably a fifty to fifty argument. I think there's
going to be some people that agree with what I'm
seeing and then totally disagree because if it's there and
it's available, why not use it? Only because last point,
tech for me, really subtracts emotion from what we're doing.
In other words, we rely on these things, we stop
thinking for ourselves, we stop, we stop being creative pushing forwardever,
(27:05):
because we succumb to a machine technology parameters that we
can't necessarily see, because our eyes don't move that well,
our brains aren't that good.
Speaker 4 (27:13):
So is that a good thing?
Speaker 3 (27:16):
I'm saying no, anything that really disrupts the creative process I'm.
Speaker 4 (27:19):
Always concerned with.
Speaker 3 (27:20):
So long answer, I'm not entirely convinced. I'd have to
see it the in motion or action, But that's my
concern that that's taking over too much, and I believe
the primary objective is to ameliorate those that.
Speaker 2 (27:36):
Bet on games overall.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
Joe Isaiah one hundred percent agree with you. I think
we do way too much outsourcing of our critical thinking
to machines, and I'm not sure i'd put this in
that category other than I think if we went to
a full on robotic system that would be troubling to me,
where every pitch is up to the machine. I like
the challenge system because it does introduce some strategy to
(27:59):
the game. You know, you only get two, so you're
not going to challenge every single pitch. I like the fact,
there's fan engagement. Like the Hawkeye system in tennis, everybody
finds out at the same time with an animated in
this case view of the strike zone, whether that ball
is in or out, and it goes in less than
seventeen seconds. It does not take a lot of time.
All these things I think are good things. But I
(28:20):
want to point out Joe that it's I like the
calls on the basis right. I don't want games decided
by egregious calls that everybody knows are wrong. I don't
think the umpires want that as well. So I see
this as a backstop against that. You know, that strikeout
call and a tie game and the eighth inning bases
(28:42):
loaded two outs, it's not a strike.
Speaker 2 (28:45):
It changes the game.
Speaker 1 (28:46):
I don't want those calls to stand when we all
can see because the technology is that good that that
will stand. So how often does this kind of stuff happen?
That's the question to me? And how different is the
zone this year? I check the numbers here. On average,
a homeplate umpire is going to make one hundred and
forty five calls a game with ball's not put in
play ball strike calls.
Speaker 2 (29:07):
Of those, most of those are going to be out
of the zone.
Speaker 1 (29:10):
Ninety eight on average, of those one hundred and forty
five calls are in pitches that are out of the zone. Now,
of those ninety eight calls he has to call on
pitches out of the zone, he's gonna call only four
point nine five percent of those are actually called strikes.
You want to call those missed calls, go ahead, these
are borderline calls whatever. So you're talking only about about
(29:33):
four or five pitches per game that quote unquote you're
giving the pitcher a strike. Well, with the quote unquote
new strike zone this year, that's gone up by exactly
one point one pitches, we're talking about one pitch per
game that this quote unquote new strike zone is influencing.
(29:54):
It's not a big deal, is it nothing? No, it's
a little more than nothing, especially if you happen to
be that hitter or you get wrung up on that
one pitch. But it's not worth getting upset of. Now,
if you went back ten years ago and you saw
this joe where umpires had a personal strike zone, not
a defined strike zone, and like you had to figure
out in the first or second inning, what's the strike
(30:15):
zone tonight? Right, or what's he given a pitcher or hey,
you know this is Frank Polli or whoever it is,
this is his strike zone. Yes, back then they were
calling ten pitches per game, not four or five that
were out of the strike zone as strikes. And I
look back in twenty fifteen, Dallas Kaikel won the Cy
(30:36):
Young Award. He threw sixty one percent fastballs that averaged
eighty nine miles per hour. He did not throw a
single pitch in twenty fifteen when he won the Say
Young Award that reached the average fastball velocity of twenty
twenty five. Now, how do you do that? You do
(30:57):
that because you could stretch the strike zone. Then I
don't think Dallas Kaikel or anybody could win to Say
Young today throwing sixty one percent fastballs at eighty nine
miles per hour.
Speaker 2 (31:07):
That's how much the game has changed.
Speaker 1 (31:09):
But I don't think this strike zone quote unquote change
that I'm hearing about from pitchers and catchers is that
big of a deal.
Speaker 3 (31:15):
Yeah, listen, I again, I've seen a little bit of it.
That's a great explanation. A big part of Kyko then
and maybe compared to now, is just the continued.
Speaker 4 (31:27):
Talk about or.
Speaker 3 (31:28):
The morphing into we're going to have it organized strike zone.
It became popular, I think like early two thousands, and
then the Red Sox and the Yankees made it very popular.
Of course the Oakland A's did. Then everybody wanted to
be that group, so it got to the point where
I think it is now where that's one of the
more prominently preached part of it is part of hitting
is to really for the better teams that they have
(31:49):
and organized strikes and they're not going to chase outside
of it. I've saw Kiko pitch and maybe just just
from the fact that he was the ying to the
yang or whatever that everybody's trying to throw so hard,
and then all of a sudden you get a guy
that really flirts with the edges as well as he does,
and it becomes enticing. Even though you have really good
pregame reports, you still see see see it, and all
of a sudden, it's not there anymore.
Speaker 4 (32:11):
So he just mindy he did. He had that one.
Speaker 3 (32:13):
Really really he was good for a bit, but that
one excellent year. So again I guess I'm still lukewarm
on this topic.
Speaker 4 (32:21):
I need to see it in.
Speaker 3 (32:23):
Action more like permanently, but more often, like you said
next year, I don't have a better opinion because I
hear about it. I'm just I'm badgering from a human
perspective it art versus data perspective. I guess that's where
I'm stuck on this whole thing. And I got to,
you know, key State, keep an open mind with it,
watch the whole thing unfold. But again, I'm just you're right.
Speaker 4 (32:45):
I love it.
Speaker 3 (32:45):
On the basis, I thought that was a great move
and I still believe that's that's that's Legit go back
to when jim Joyce blew the perfect game on Galla Raga.
I thought that should have been symbolically the first call
that was changed before as they implemented the system of
challenges on the basis. I think Jimmy Joyce would have
loved that, so would have gone, there's such a dankins.
(33:07):
You're back in ed some really egregiously bad calls on
the basis that can really impact the game, and of
course could happen at home plate. But the more we
keep it in check.
Speaker 4 (33:17):
I like it.
Speaker 1 (33:18):
Yeah, And as you saw when it first was implemented
on the basis, there were times where that pop up slide,
that guy's foot would come off the base by a
millimeter and on replay he'd be out and people complain,
But I was like, you know, once you go down
the rabbit hole of replay, it has to be literal.
There's no gray areas, right, And you're going to see
the same thing next year with the ABS Challenge system.
Speaker 2 (33:40):
On pitches.
Speaker 1 (33:41):
You know there's going to be a pitch that is
a sliver I'm talking a millimeter outside of the established
strike zone and it will be overturned and you'll go like, well,
come on, you got to give them that pitch. But
that's that's what we have. We have an exacting universe
now because of technology, we want to get things down
to the last millimeter. And I do think it's coming
(34:02):
next year. But in the meantime, I'm Joe. I think umpires.
We have to look at umpires. They do a fantastic
job in today's game.
Speaker 3 (34:08):
Oh absolutely, one hundred percent. And let me leave you
with one thought on that one before you get there,
is like perfection. You're talking about perfection, right, Troy Gloss?
You remember Troy Glass, really good baseball player? Yeah, sure, Roy,
I called him, Roy, just drop the tee. Ray would
get upset sometimes and you get down on himself sometimes
and I'd walk up to him.
Speaker 4 (34:26):
I'd tell him two things.
Speaker 3 (34:27):
They said, only takes one at bat, one at bat
to have a great, great night. And number two, perfection
is a boring concept. Once the moment you arrive at perfection,
the game is not nearly as attractive.
Speaker 4 (34:42):
I like that.
Speaker 1 (34:43):
I got to keep that mind watching these umpires, but
I do have tremendous respect for them.
Speaker 2 (34:47):
And it's interesting.
Speaker 1 (34:48):
If you look at there's a website umpire scorecards. It's
not exact in terms of grading the umps, but it's close.
And I was looking the other day at the five
highest rated umpires and they're all under the age of
forty five.
Speaker 4 (35:02):
Who are they?
Speaker 1 (35:03):
Edwin that is is thirty two, Derek Thomas is thirty four,
Mark Ripperger is forty four, Junior Valentine is thirty seven,
and Dan Merzl is thirty seven.
Speaker 2 (35:12):
It's not an accident to me.
Speaker 1 (35:13):
These guys have grown up in terms of growing up,
in terms of training on a Hawkeye system and calling
the literal zone. It's no longer Hey, this is my game,
I'm gonna call my zone.
Speaker 2 (35:24):
So they're being.
Speaker 1 (35:24):
Graded and they have been graded their whole professional lives
that way, so they've been trained that way. And also
think just younger eyes and you know, they don't have
the injuries that let's face it, these if you've been
umpiring fifteen twenty twenty five years, you get banged up,
and I think just the dexterity and you know, being
able to get in proper position and all that stuff.
(35:46):
I think the younger umpires are basically trained better because
they've grown up in this system.
Speaker 4 (35:51):
Rippinger's good.
Speaker 3 (35:52):
I mean, among those five guys you mentioned Junior a
little bit, I saw him, but rip I've always been
a big fan of him, not only the fact that
he's so good as being an umpire, but you could
talk to this guy. Always felt he was the kind
of umpire that you could have a conversation with, disagree
with respectfully.
Speaker 4 (36:09):
And you felt good about it.
Speaker 3 (36:11):
There's certain guys that when they walk out that that
room and they come out to home play, you go
god dang or otherwise. Yes, You've always had that kind
of feeling when you saw the crew. One more point,
like you said about the individuality of umpires in the past.
We used to get heat maps that kind of what
you're referring to, and we would pass out the heat
(36:33):
maps of the each umpire before a series, and with
that a picture with good command and a catcher that
really can recall things you could set up according to
this umpire strike zone. He gave more on the outside edge,
not so much on the inside edge. You have to
know right in the hit or versut left handed pitcher
and vice versa. There was definite a morphic in essense,
(36:54):
they changed a lot, but you had to know these
things and if you stuck to them, you could gain advantages.
Speaker 4 (36:59):
High ball umpire, low ball empire.
Speaker 3 (37:00):
It was just like you're talking about, but it was
kind of interesting because it was part of your setup.
It was part of your pregame meeting, was to break
down the empire.
Speaker 4 (37:08):
Well, where did he like the.
Speaker 3 (37:09):
Pitches and how did he match up to your guy?
I got a sinker ball pitcher today and this guy
doesn't call it anything. Don god, It's like heads up,
here we go. So that was a part of the
landscape literally back then, where that was a part of
the pregame meeting.
Speaker 4 (37:23):
The heat map on the empire.
Speaker 2 (37:25):
I'm so glad those days are over.
Speaker 4 (37:27):
Joe.
Speaker 1 (37:28):
You know, I know you talked about the human element,
but they took it too far. I don't want umpires
determining the strike zone. I want that plate at home
plate to determine the strike zone. I don't want, you know,
a day game, after a night game, or a getaway
game to decide how tight or big the strike zone
is either. So I don't miss those days.
Speaker 4 (37:46):
I'm with you. I'm not arguing for you.
Speaker 1 (37:49):
Right hey, Joe, we're going to take a quick break.
I mentioned one third of the way through the season.
I want to talk about the biggest surprises of the year.
Speaker 2 (37:57):
We're going to talk about that right after this.
Speaker 1 (38:12):
Welcome back to the Book of Joe. Wrapping up with
the biggest surprises. Joe and I just wanted to stick
with teams in this regard here, and I'm going to
give you, in no particular order to me, one of
the biggest or some of the biggest surprises this year.
You can add to it, delete from it. I want
want to get your take. I'm gonna start with the
Chicago Cubs. I thought they'd be better. I didn't see
(38:35):
their offense like this. They are leading the major League
Baseball in run scored six runs per game. A big
part of that is Pete Crow Armstrong has gone from
a guy last year getting the bat knocked out of
his hands to being an impact hitter.
Speaker 2 (38:49):
Of course, added Kyle Tucker.
Speaker 1 (38:51):
They've got tremendous production from their catchers A Maya and
Carson Cubs scoring six runs a game. That's been a
big surprise for me. The Baltimore Orioles, on the negative side,
they basically played themselves out of contention in less than
two months. Didn't like that team coming into the season
because of the pitching. I didn't think they'd be nearly
this bad. Speaking of being this bad, the Colorado Rockies
(39:15):
one of three teams and fired their managers in the
month of May nine and forty five. Nine and forty five.
We didn't think anybody could be as bad as the
White Sox last year, and nobody has been historically. We
might get the answer this year. The Rockies just awful.
Don't see it getting better there. That's a team, by
the way, that I don't know how this happens when
you play in Colorado.
Speaker 2 (39:36):
Their offense stinks.
Speaker 1 (39:37):
Have the highest swing a miss rate in all of
baseball playing in just a dream of a hitter's park.
And finally, John going to give you the fact that
six teams reached a third way through the season. Six
teams playing six hundred baseball or better. This is a
very top heavy sport, like the bottom of the sport
is awful, and teams are racking up a ton of
(39:59):
wins against the back end of the teams in baseball,
So you got six teams ever happened before in the
wildcard era. Last year there was one team that finished
with six hundred baseball record.
Speaker 2 (40:11):
This year we have six so far.
Speaker 1 (40:13):
So it's a very bifurcated game to me, where you
have the elites and you know they have nots really
have nothing. I mean just when you play the White Sox,
the Marlins, the Orioles are starting to get into this group,
but you know the teams at the bottom, the Rockies,
you almost have to sweep those teams. So, just to
give you an example, from two thousand and six to thirteen,
(40:35):
an eight year period, there were only five teams total
that played six hundred baseball. We have six so far
this year. I don't expect that to last. That all
six are going to finish that high above or at
least that with a winning percentage of six hundred, but
certainly you're probably gonna get four or five.
Speaker 2 (40:51):
So that's my take.
Speaker 1 (40:52):
I get the Cubs, the Rockies, the Orioles, the top
of the market and the bottom of the market as
my biggest surprises from a team perspective.
Speaker 2 (40:58):
One third of the way in.
Speaker 3 (41:00):
Well, first with the Cubs, I've been watching the Armstrong
from what I gather and I've read, and I'm watching it.
He finally learned how to stay behind the ball.
Speaker 2 (41:08):
That's it, exactly.
Speaker 4 (41:10):
Watch watch him swing.
Speaker 3 (41:11):
I mean every swing he takes, Man, he is behind
the baseball and that's where the pop is coming from.
And his confidence is sowing. He's already a wonderful outfielder.
He runs really well, he's got all the other tools
in the toolbox of it. Now, Wow, his confidence is
soaring so much. And give him credit. Whichever coach it
was that saw that thought about, that gave him that thought.
(41:33):
It's a thought, then it's a feel. Then it becomes
part of your game. And heads up, man, because there's
no reason he's gonna go bad at some point.
Speaker 4 (41:42):
I know he swings a lot. I guess that was
part of the issue.
Speaker 3 (41:44):
But listen, we just like we're talking about with Soto,
swing it, man, every pitch is you're pitched hit until
you say no.
Speaker 4 (41:49):
He is the number one difference.
Speaker 3 (41:51):
But I think he would not be as influential if
it wasn't for Tucker. I think Tucker is the guy
that really changes the whole attitude of this group. This
guy to me, like I've said, at the beginning of
the year, I thought he's right up there with Soto
or and I said I if I had a chance
to get either one of those two, I would take
Tucker over Soto. I think he's that good. I just
think he's that he's a complete baseball player. The guy
(42:11):
hits left, he's tough, and he's hitting two eighty two
ninety right now, and he's gonna He hasn't really hit
his stride yet, but he will. So it starts with
Tucker and then PA's really been the beneficiary in the
Suzuki all the other dudes, like you said, up and
down on line if they've gotten some great production. Baltimore,
I thought was going to be in the playoffs again
this year. Really disappointing. Like you've suggested, I know the
(42:33):
pitching is bad, but I watched them. There's there's like
a malaise about them. I think they they got behind
the eight ball so badly they didn't know what to do.
Speaker 2 (42:41):
And eventually I like that point.
Speaker 3 (42:43):
And then and Hyder. I love Brandon Hype.
Speaker 4 (42:46):
I do.
Speaker 3 (42:47):
I think he's that good of a baseball guy. I
hope he resurfaces again. But they they got so far back,
they just meant internally panicked. They just didn't know how
to get out of it. And they and then the Rockies.
The last time I had a I was on a
team like with a record like that was the seventy
three scrant And Red Sox and the Collegiate Baseball League.
Oh my god, it was awful. It's awful going to
(43:08):
the ballpark every day. You talk about not knowing what
to do. That they could hit a reset right now,
they would, They would just forfeit the rest of their
games and go to instructional league and just try to
you know, what could we do differently? And that's leads
to the next point, everybody trying to be the same.
That's there's the six hundred teams, and these teams have
a combination of I think the you know, the leadership,
their front office is really good. They got dough to
(43:30):
spend for the most part, and they don't miss the
evaluation wise they got they're able to evaluate. They got
the money to back up their theories, and their theories
are good, and they're able to utilize the analytical world
in a way that benefits them.
Speaker 4 (43:43):
Now, the other groups, the groups in the subgroups.
Speaker 3 (43:46):
Want to be like them, but they can't for a
variety of different reasons, whether it's the leadership, the way
players are evaluated, the way they go about their training,
the part of the game that they're emphasizing, and how
they're on a daily basis, how that's going to be
extracted from this group. What is demanded of them, what's
not demanded of them? All these things. I've said this
(44:06):
a couple of days ago in a different situation. You
cannot try to be like the Dodgers if you're the Rockies.
As an example, the Orioles were, China, go on that path,
Yankees and the well, the Red Sox can't even say
that anymore, but play your own game.
Speaker 4 (44:24):
Everybody's tied to the same.
Speaker 3 (44:28):
Methods in regards to the kind of data they're utilizing.
They talk so much. It's an acetual business. They talk
all the time among each other. I'm talking about front offices,
and it's more of a battle of front offices as
opposed to team on the field.
Speaker 4 (44:43):
I want to see.
Speaker 3 (44:43):
Somebody go rogue, a little bit rogue regarding how they
play the game. And I want to see more of
an attitude benefiting or benefiting from some past experiences and
not just fall in the air. Strikeouts are okay, try
to walk, spind the ball at the top of the zone.
I'd like to see more diversity, like okay, diversity within
(45:06):
how you're playing your game, because if you're not of
that ilk, if you are not the Dodgers to expect
on an annual basis to come back and be competitive
annually and not just have five hundred be your goal.
How disgusting or boring is that they have five hundred
be your goal. You have to think out outside the
proverbial box and what does that mean. I just like saying,
(45:27):
play the complete game. Don't be so tied down to
these the new mora's of like how are the games
supposed to be played? And be afraid to walk away
from that because you don't want to be this outlier
and just follow the tenets of what's being passed from
one group to the other.
Speaker 4 (45:42):
That's what I see.
Speaker 3 (45:43):
So these other groups, just circle your wagons, come up
with your own, your own plan, and don't try to
be like the Dodgers or try to be like the Rais.
Be like you, understand what you guys think is important
and play that game.
Speaker 1 (45:57):
Well said, I mean, I talked about those six teams, Joe,
you're talking about to New York, one, Philly, one, Los
Angeles one, Chicago and then Detroit.
Speaker 2 (46:08):
So the big markets are the big markets this year.
Speaker 3 (46:11):
Yeah, kick them in the shins. Kick him in the shins.
The guy with the the lion's head coach, it's his
name again, I'm sorry Campbell, Dan Campbell.
Speaker 4 (46:19):
When he first came in at his press conference, but I.
Speaker 3 (46:21):
Can't remember the exact but he pretty much said that,
you know, we're not gonna we're not gonna cater to
everybody else. Although he is a very analytical coach and
he does rely on analytics to take chances, which I'm
good because, after all, analytics do provide a safety and
effort decision making always. But you can't try to play
their game and expect to be successful, play your own.
Speaker 2 (46:40):
I like that.
Speaker 1 (46:41):
Now I'm gonna ask you to come up with our
thought of the day. That was a good one, but
I know you've got something locked and loaded that's even better.
Speaker 2 (46:47):
So what do you got?
Speaker 3 (46:49):
I guess it does apply. Steve DeMarco a friend of
mine who runs golf tournaments. I'm going to play down
in Nashville this weekend, the Tunnels of Tower tournament while
the joiner he stearheads it down there. But anyway, he
sends me. Steve sends me these daily quotes, and this
one comes from Tuerky Guard, which gosh, this is like,
you know, these dudes just sit around, they think of
(47:09):
some great stuff all the time.
Speaker 4 (47:10):
But I love this.
Speaker 3 (47:12):
People demand freedom of speech as compensation for the freedom
of thought, which they seldom use exactly what I'm use
your You know, it's like everybody wants freedom of speech, great,
and it's there in place of freedom of thought. Okay, good,
I got my freedom of thought. But everybody wants group thing.
Everybody wants to be like everybody else. My god, it
(47:36):
really stands out to me as I watch a lot
of whatever transpires around us, talking points, narratives to just
driven to death because everybody seems to be afraid to
use their own mind thought experience, reading, I mean, and
reading means a lot. The books that you've read, what
you've studied in the past, those are your thoughts come from,
(47:56):
and of course your daily experiences. So I love that
demand freedom of speech, and it's compensation for the free
them of thought which.
Speaker 4 (48:04):
They sell them use.
Speaker 3 (48:07):
It was Soren what's his name, Soorren kirkerguard right anyway,
echo chambers, get rid of them. We don't need echo chambers.
Let's get some freedom of thought going on. Your Rocky's
got to create your own game plan. How do you
dig yourself out of this hole? Write it down, stick
to it, and then be flexible with it the only
way it's going to happen.
Speaker 1 (48:26):
I love that, and I'm sure jobeah it applies to
running a baseball game as a manager. We talked about
Steve Abbol walking shoe Otani. You know, I'm not sure
he went in the game thinking he was going to
do that, but in that blink moment, as you call it, yep,
it was in his mind the right thing to do. Now,
whether it turned out or not, I don't care, but
I like the fact that he thought differently.
Speaker 4 (48:47):
I've listened.
Speaker 3 (48:47):
It's it's a decision he made and whether, like you said,
whether it works or not according to the public perception
of the general outcome, it was you. You did what
your thought was the right thing to do in the moment,
and you know there's the out Comebias is always right.
Speaker 4 (49:06):
But when you have to think in advance, in a
hot moment that things.
Speaker 3 (49:11):
Are going rather quickly, and you've given it thought prior
to And that's why I'm big on the prior to thought.
I think, like I said, I would have had that
thought in my head prior to the game. Sometimes it
alects temporaneously occurred during the game, but more often than not,
I would give that in advanced thought. And that's that's
a big part of planning in the baseball game. And
(49:31):
I would bet that voter had thought of that. And
I'm all about it, man, I think that's great.
Speaker 2 (49:37):
Cool stuff.
Speaker 1 (49:38):
Joe, here comes June and the middle third of the
season coming up.
Speaker 2 (49:41):
Can't believe where they're already.
Speaker 4 (49:43):
You got a brother. Yes, it's going to be interesting.
Speaker 3 (49:45):
It's going to get quicker and quicker and quicker. It's
like a roll of toilet paper. The closer you get
to the end, the faster it goes.
Speaker 2 (49:52):
We'll see you next time on the Book of Joe.
Speaker 4 (49:54):
All right, brother, thank you.
Speaker 1 (50:03):
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